Chrome Story

Chromebooks Can Now Print Without Cloud

Google had a cloud-first vision for Chrome OS. It is why it took a while for Chromebooks to become popular. They were a little ahead of time. When cloud computing became a popular concept, the popularity of Chromebooks also increased.

There was always one piece where this cloud-first strategy constantly created frustration for users. Cloud Printing.

Chrome OS required Cloud Printing to connect printers. This was not a very popular feature. Cloud Printing of course came with a lot of advantages, but the pain-points around it outweighed them. The ability to connect directly to Chromebooks thus became one of the most popular requests for the new operating system.

Some printer manufacturers worked around this issue with custom extensions, but the demand for a built-in system has always been there.

Native Printing

Chrome OS version 59 that reached the Stable channel this week had a very important item in its “What’s new” list; Chrome OS Native Printing.

Native Printing simply means that you can connect any printer that is on your network, without any “cloud” requirements. All you need to know is the IP address of the printer. Here is the official documentation on how to set this up.

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2 responses to “Chromebooks Can Now Print Without Cloud”

  1. Gudie Engilbertsson
    Gudmundur Engilbertsson

    I don’t have a problem with Cloud Printing but I would like to be able to connect and use a CD Drive on my Chrome book and Chrome desktop.

    Reply
  2. Michael Teutsch

    I’m glad to finally see this. I specifically bought my printer because it was supposed to be compatible with Chromebooks. Every time I set it up, it would be “offline” the next time I wanted to print. It wasn’t enough of an inconvenience to give up the Chromebook but it was seriously annoying. I’m glad Google finally got this done.

    Reply

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